


just leave me your wake to remember you by

by derogatory



Category: Nobuta wo Produce
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-20
Updated: 2010-02-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 07:06:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8318530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derogatory/pseuds/derogatory
Summary: five Christmas presents





	

1\.   
They did a secret Santa one year. Nobuta and Shuji pushed the names they drew into their pockets and stood up fast from the table.

"Ah-- I got my own name--" Akira cries and screws his face in anger when the two of them linger before sitting back down.

 

 

 

2\.   
Two small clay jars. 

"Did you make this?" Shuji asks immediately. After all, when they made the Nobuta keychains, the supply chain usually stalled with Akira. Kusano has glued his fingers together, Kusano has pipe cleaners in his ears, Kusano is drawing moustaches on the finished products. 

Shuji weighs the pottery experimentally in his hands.

"Things you want to forget about, you can hide them-- here!" Akira taps the side of the jars once each, then twice, then alternating between them at different points, trying to compose a symphony or a drum solo.

"But I don't want to forget anything," Nobuta admits and then bows her head against the table; she didn't mean to seem ungrateful. 

Shuji grins and echoes her statement, but adds that he could probably keep something else in the jar. "Thread, pens, junk mail..." he thinks aloud, trying to cover up the gap from Nobuta's embarrassment, Akira's touched silence. 

 

 

 

3\.   
One Christmas a celebration never really happens. They were supposed to spend some of the holidays together, as usual, but the week before Christmas, Koji came down with a fever. Shuji called the school to inform them of the siblings' absence, but he didn't think to let Kusano know. 

"Oh," Akira blinks, elbowing his way into the apartment. "Oh!! I thought mobsters got you." 

Shuji barricades the entryway and growls as Akira paws around his face, trying to get by. He informs him that Koji is very sick ("Didn't you notice the mask??" "Oh yes, I did! It looks good!!") and Akira will only catch it too if he stays around.

"I don't have time to play with you," Shuji scolds, slamming the door in his face. Still Kusano rings the buzzer for ten minutes straight when he returns with bags full of conbini food. 

Shuji tosses a few packets of ramen across the hall in his frustration and exhaustion. This isn't sick people food! he orders. Get out and stay out! He stormed back to Koji's bedside, but doesn't lock Akira out again. Eventually, the smell of curry inches through the household, and Akira slides himself into the room. 

Shuji, still mad, takes the chopsticks and still hot microwave-safe bowl from him, gently helping Koji sit up to be fed.

"Shuji-kun would make a good dad," Akira notes bravely, setting his chin on his friend's shoulder.

 

 

 

4\.   
His dad leaves the windows open during a spring rainstorm, and Shuji nearly freezes in his sleep. He dreams it's December, and it's Christmas, and he kisses Nobuta in the school courtyard. He tries to wake himself up- that was just stupid. He saw something like that in a movie last week- get out of his head. When he drifts off again, he dreams Akira kisses her in the club's recording room. Thankfully, Koji wakes him up.

"Were you crying?"

Shuji rolls away on his side. "Shut up, this is my side of the room."

 

 

 

5\.   
Contrary to their original agreement, Akira pays her entire train fare. Shuji keeps pushing money into his hands, and Akira acts like it's burning hot and keeps dropping it. Briefly, Shuji flares up and accuses Kusano of wanting this to be a visit just between him and Nobuta! They don't speak after that (Akira makes a lot of animal noises to get his attention, Shuji hits him in the mouth twice). The train thunders in around them and Shuji isn't sure how to apologize. Before the passengers disembark, Shuji scrapes his money off the platform, imagining giving Nobuta a gift of his own.

Akira wants to show her his favorite restaurant and his favorite fruit stand and the best place to watch old people. Shuji walks alongside of her with his hands in his pockets, watching her watch Kusano. When the other boy chases down a pigeon, Nobuta turns completely to face Shuji. He smiles awkwardly and starts to point out the spot on the beach where-

"Everyone still talks about you," she assures him in her funny, stilted speech. Facing him, her eyes are on the ground, but there's a real smile on her face. Anxiously, Shuji wants to reach for her hand, but he can't.

"I miss them too," he admits and tries to catch her smile with his eyes. "Thanks." Akira bustles back to their side, pulling on each of their sleeves.


End file.
